Celebration of voices at KSO's season series concert on 6th of February
Published 05.02.2025
Mirjam Helin Singing Competition 2024 finalists Justyna Khil and Aksel Daveyan as soloists
The Kuopio Symphony Orchestra’s season series concert on Thursday 6th of February at 6 pm will be a celebration of voices, as two finalists of the international Mirjam Helin Singing Competition 2024, Polish soprano Justyna Khil and Armenian baritone Aksel Daveyan, will visit Kuopio. The soloists bring the audience stories of love, longing, disappointment and happiness from the most popular operas of all time. The concert, held at the Kuopio Music Centre Concert Hall, ends with Wilhelm Stenhammar’s late romantic Symphony No. 2 conducted by Swedish conductor Johannes Gustavsson.
The concert begins with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin. It is the central piece of the ball in Act 2 of the opera, a robust Polish dance, composed in Tchaikovsky’s masterful manner. Michaela’s aria from George Bizet’s opera Carmen takes the audience with Michaela at the smugglers’ hideout. In Almaviva’s aria from W.A. Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro, the Countess recalls past moments of love with her husband.
Largo al factotum is an aria from Gioacchino Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville, which Figaro sings when he first enters the stage. The aria’s repeated Figaro words have become one of the most famous passages in operatic literature. In the aria Ya vas lyublyu from Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s opera The Queen of Spades, which is connected to the themes of gambling, Prince Yeletsky declares his love for Liza, the Countess’s adopted child. Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème tells the story of bohemian life in Paris. The duet between the seamstress Mimi and the painter Marcello is heard in the opera’s third act.
The evening ends with the astonishingly beautiful Symphony No. 2 by one of Sweden’s most important composers, Wilhelm Stenhammar. It was premiered the year after the outbreak of World War I. After hearing Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, the Swedish composer was plunged into an artistic crisis, searching for a new way to compose. He took a new approach to his Symphony No. 2 and incorporated Nordic elements into it.
The concert is conducted by Johannes Gustavsson, who regularly works with all the major Nordic orchestras. He was the chief conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra until 2021. Polish soprano Justyna Khil has performed in recitals, chamber and oratorio concerts in Poland and abroad. Over the past year, she has, among other things, been attached to opera productions in various parts of Poland. Khil placed 4th in the 2024 Mirjam Helin Singing Competition. Armenian baritone Aksel Daveyan has been a member of the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House and has sung in several productions of the opera house. He has also performed in concerts all over Europe. He placed 5th in the 2024 Mirjam Helin Singing Competition.
Before the concert, at 5:30 pm at the Kuopio Music Centre Hall of Light, a Pre-Talk event open to everyone is organized.
Tickets: 33 € / 27 € senior citizens and groups min. 20 persons / 11 € children under the age of 16 and students / 4 € concert day discount ticket for students and young people under the age of 20.
KUOPIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Producer & Publicity Manager Elina Prepula, tel. 044 718 2364, elina.prepula(at)kuopio.fi
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